“This means that you cannot resell a PC with Office 2016 unless you also give out your Microsoft Live username and password details,” he said, showing CRN a help chat with Microsoft to support the claim.Ĭhapman said that using a Microsoft account links the customer to the cloud, potentially exposing company information to the internet: “Multiple users using the same MS Live ID in a business - for activation reasons - end up getting joined by the cloud sharing/exposing company information, recent documents, wireless network security keys and who knows what else between everyone using the same ID.” Melbourne Information Solutions’ Bulenda also said that once an instance of Office 2016 is tied to a particular Microsoft account it cannot be transferred to another.
Hart said that he would not use his own Microsoft account, as the computer and software does not belong to him he will not force his client to create a account nor would he “pry into” his customer’s private information to get their Microsoft credentials. “That is a major headache for independent technical consultants that support small businesses, as I do,” said forum participant Brian D Hart, who first protested about the issue on the vendor’s discussion boards. The Microsoft Community forum shows scores of Microsoft partners and in-house IT staff expressing the same frustrations. I have one client where a generic address was set up for software activation - an alias on the admin email account - to become a Microsoft ID to get around this but it is very messy and apparently ends up having issues with too many activations.”
“I am not able to install the software for them at my office without their Microsoft ID which they don’t have.
This is also the reason they are not able to use the subscription model that Microsoft want them to use as they would still need to download the software each time,” he said. Several hundred megabytes - not really easy for a business on less than 3Mbps ADSL. “You still need to download the installation. This, however, is not really useful as it simply attaches that office licence - bought retail or OEM, there is now no difference - to a Microsoft Live ID,” he told CRN.Ĭhapman, director of A Bit of IT, said that small business clients also face hurdles with the download-and-subscribe model that Microsoft is heading towards. With 2016, there is no DVD media but there is still a key card. “With Office 2013, a DVD install could be activated with a key card. Melbourne-based small business consultant Ben Chapman backs up the claim, saying Microsoft “doesn’t care about the Australian market, especially small businesses”. To install a customer’s Office 2016 we need to get their private details or create a throwaway Microsoft account every time.” We will not be selling Office 2016 in most cases and hope the disties don’t run out of Office 2013 any time soon. To do this requires a Microsoft account,” Melbourne Information Solutions technical consultant Olaf Bulenda told CRN. Office 2016 now needs to ‘redeem’ the included product key and turn it into another product key. “We are trying to resell Office 2016 Home and Business retail/OEM purchased from Synnex/Dicker/Ingram and can’t activate it with the included product key. While resellers are provided product keys from distributors, the install process reportedly loops to force a Microsoft account (formerly known as Live) to be entered.
Microsoft has provoked outrage among smaller partners for refusing to remove a requirement for a account on OEM installations of Office 2016.